Jim Northrup, Tiger Favorite, Dead at 71

[mrmopar]

http://www.freep.com/article/201106...w-Sharp-Always-thankful-Jim-Northrup-memories

The ebay frenzy has begun...

 

[CW13]

RIP...got him about a year ago. glad i did, too many losses each month nowadays

 

[tigsfan]

Sadly this was only a matter of time, he has been in poor health for the past few years or so.

 

[Boots]

Sorry to read of his passing. Brought back many memories of those awesome Tiger teams of the 60's-Kaline, Horton, Northrup, Stanley, Freehan, Cash,McAulife, Wert, Oyler...and McClain, Lolich, Wilson, Hiller.

Time marches on...

Frank

 

[Dusty]

Jim Northrup '68 Tigers WS hero, dies at age 71

Apparently, he had Alzheimer's.

Jim was my favorite Tigers player. He wore # 5 and all through my softball career I wore # 5 (or 55) in honor of him. I was especially proud of his triple in game 7 of the '68 World Series to beat Bob Gibson and the Cardinals.

I took my son, Trevor, to a card show a few years ago when Trevor was 7. I had a baseball card of Jim Northrup who was signing that day. As we stood in front of Jim, I showed the card to Trevor and asked him if he knew who was in the picture on the card. He said it was me. No, I said, it's this guy here. By then, Northrup was in his 60s and didn't look much like the photo on his baseball card. Trevor still insisted it was me. Since then, I've had several others mention how much I look like him.

Jim was great with Trevor and asked him several questions. We left and I think Trevor still didn't know who he was.

Northrup's triple in Game 7 of the 68 World Series:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU6jXgINHZA

Gonna miss him.

From the 68 Tigers, these players have died: Joe Sparma, Earl Wilson, John Wyatt, Eddie Matthews, Ray Oyler, Norm Cash, Pat Dobson

 

[mrmopar]

I have his complete Topps run minus his high number 66 Topps. There was one listed today at $17.50, but it was pretty beat up. If I didn't care almost as much about the condition of the card as I do the signature, I probably would have considered buying it. That will probably be a tougher card to find signed in the future, especially after his death. Even before he died, it didn't pop up much. I remember looking after it was announced he was heading to Hospice care. I found only 1 and it was much more expensive.

RIP...got him about a year ago. glad i did, too many losses each month nowadays

 

[mitchellstreet]

i'm glad i have the 66!!i also have his whole run and alot of the oddball stuff too.he was truly one of the good ones thru the years and i will miss him.met him on a couple occassions thru the years.without a long story without the 68' tigers winning the world series i wouldnt be turning 42 years old in 2 weeks.dad was a big fan!he couldnt get tix to the series that year.never believed him till after he died when i was 15, 2 months after we shared the thrill of 1984.going thru his things we came across a couple newspapers,a bumpersticker,and a card from the detroit tigers saying they were sorry but all tix were exhausted.sorry for the long read just gets me going back once in a while.
RIP JIM and THANX FOR THAT TRIPLE!!!!

 

[expos94]

sad news. RIP.

Glad he was kind enough to add to my personal collection, he wasn't an Expo for long, but still an Expo.

 

[whalerfan9]

As a fan, I always hate to hear news like that especially when it's a Tiger - RIP, Mr. Northrup...

 

[houbb]

Northrup was a terrific player. I loved watching him hit. Rest In Peace!